Hyper-whatnow? Jonathan Amos reports: US entrepreneur Elon Musk...has teased audiences with titbits of information about the rapid transit idea. ... Musk says Hyperloop could be built for less than a conventional rail link [and] would be a practical solution for city pairs separated by 1,000 miles or less. ... Whatever Mr Musk proposes, people are sure to sit up and take notice. ... PayPal...Falcon rocket system...Tesla electric car. ... Musk says he is so busy with SpaceX and Tesla that he will not immediately try to develop Hyperloop himself. Pie in the sky? Nick Allen adds more detail: The history of transport is replete with...schemes for getting people from A to B in...haste. And many of them have remained...ideas on a drawing board that will never see the light of day. [But Musk] is a Silicon Valley wunderkind with a proven track record of turning science fiction into reality.. ... Musk will not be patenting the design and it will be “open source”, meaning anyone can modify it, or try to build it. [He] has denied it will be a so-called “vactrain”. [It] “does involve a tube, but not a vacuum tube”, he said, adding: “Not frictionless, but very low friction.” ... Musk’s intended location for the first Hyperloop is...between Los Angeles and San Francisco...and deliver passengers between the two cities in just 30 minutes. How does it work? Karl Smith has his guess: I could be way off base but I [say] he wants to use an Inductrack [a] highly sensible technology that uses permanent magnets. [You don't] need to have electric power to make this work. ...you simply have to get the train moving and the motion of the train will cause induction...which will lift the train. ... [If there's a] failure the train just glides slowly down on to the track. ... No crash and burn. Canadian engineer John Gardi has been tinkering with this concept for a while: Hyperloop is merely a modern day version of the pneumatic tubes used...to move money and small items...to other floors of a building. ...though not so much these days. ... Cars would share the tube with the air column...during the high speed run between stations. ... The car is slowed by linear regenerative braking, accelerated by [a] rail gun. ... Having an elevated Hyperloop...avoids or reduces many of the pitfalls of ground-level right-of-ways, and opens up some new opportunities: ... The crossing of other right-of-ways...will be a breeze. ... Hyperloop can avoid tunnels. ...new route options, like leasing farmer’s fields...paid for by leasing Hyperloop’s right-of-way to communications companies [and] the solar power that a couple of square miles of surface area can generate! ... Building Hyperloop...for a 10th the cost of high speed rail is...doable. Similar ideas have been tried, as Alan Boyle tells it: Such grand projects have foundered in the United States, due to the expense of building new infrastructure and negotiating the rights of way. ...a pneumatic transit system isn't exactly a new idea. The concept was tested in New York in the 1870s. Would you invest? An enthusiastic Adriana Lee would: This scheme is so crazy, it just might work. The idea...sounds mad, but Musk's guarded-yet-clear enthusiasm gives it some cred. ... Hyperloop could one day become a role model for other efficient transit and transportation systems. ... This has "intriguing" written all over it. Meanwhile, Antony Currie draws an interesting parallel: Elon Musk is beginning to exude hints of Steven P. Jobs. ... Like Mr. Jobs [he] crafts an impressive product. Now, he’s gaining a reputation for beating earnings estimates.